I had to hand it to the young kid - he certainly had a sense of irony and humor. His gift was great. An 18 year old bottle of Talisker single malt. Perfect. The question he posed on his eighteenth birthday was simple and flattering. "What do you wish you knew when you were eighteen?" He knew that it was the kind of question that only whiskey and an inflated ego would respond to - cause none of us really are qualified to answer it for anyone else. Inevitably we all learn this stuff on our own. But I gave it a shot anyway. "Much better men than I have tried to answer this" I said. I choose to defer to their wisdom and their words. "You will pick your own. It's your life ~ but here's my three 'A's":